The Spot

The Spot is an American web soap opera created by Scott Zakarin in 1995 and is the longest-running web series. Hosted on the website of the same name, the series centers around the residents of a California beach house known as “The Spot”. The characters, referred to as “SpotMates”, usually interact with the audience via video logs placed throughout the episode. Originally incorporating photos, video clips and blogs into an interactive format, the series has modernized this setup by condensing it all into one singular episode.

Besides being the longest-running web series, The Spot is also considered as the first-ever series produced specifically for the Internet.

Cast

 * Laurie Shiers as Tara Hartwick
 * TIm Abell as Jeff Benton
 * TBA

History
In 1995, aspiring filmmaker Scott Zakarin pitched the idea of a series focusing on a group of young adults through a website to Fattal & Collins, a company which had struggled to successfully utilize the Internet. With the help of his co-workers, many of whom portrayed the show’s central characters, The Spot launched on June 7, 1995.

Initially, many people believed that the show was real. This was fueled further by the fact that characters interacted with fans through online message boards.

Shortly after its debut, The Spot began to receive 100,000 visits per day, which was an unprecedented amount at the time. The website soon received media coverage from outlets such as Variety Magazine and The Los Angeles Times as a result of its unique concept. By the end of July, the series attracted the attention of corporate sponsors, whose advertisements played at the end of each episode.

The year 1996 would begin with the launch of American Cybercast, the video production division of Fattal & Collins. Intended to focus on multiple properties, the new venture would end up only producing episodes for The Spot. These changes were made after executives declared that rapid expansion was too risky and could potentially shut down the company.

By the year 2000, Zakarin had moved on and despite this, American Cybercast continued producing the show.

Despite being a private company, American Cybercast was negatively affected by the dot-com bubble and as a result, The Spot was sold to Zakarin.

In 2013, the series became the first web shows to win a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series.

Show history
The show’s early years were plagued by financial difficulties, which included company resources being drained. This nearly caused production to end.

It has over 250 episodes

TBA

Other text
The series has been running for 26 seasons.

Hosted on the website of the same name, the series centers on a rotating cast of characters who rent rooms in a Southern California beach house known as “The Spot”.

Combining blog posts and short video clips with interactive features, it is the first and longest-running internet soap opera.

Company resources aren’t drained and it generates revenue.

It won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Series in 2008.

When the dot com bubble occurred, the series was hit by it so hard due to the series being strict on where it’s profits is used.